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A revealing and entertaining guide through some of the biggest misconceptions in science that many of us still believe.
You may well be familiar with the fact that lightning, contrary to the popular saying, often strikes the same place twice. But this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what many of us wrongly believe about the way the world works. Whether it's word of mouth, myths you've read about online, or misremembered facts from school, we're bombarded by misconceptions about the science we come into contact with every day - this book will uncover the most popular myths to help you avoid contributing to the perpetuation of these misunderstandings.
Breaking it down into fifty of the most popular misconceptions in science, each chapter of this book will be headed up with a 'fact', followed by the real story, providing the science and theory that debunks the myth. From fears about the exponential growth of the human population to the embarrassment of always pointing out the north star as the brightest in the sky, this is the book to read if you want to separate the science fact from fiction.
Introduction
1 Lightning never strikes twice
2 We have five senses
3 The North Star is the brightest star in the night sky
4 Fingertips wrinkle in the bath when they absorb water
5 Water is a good conductor of electricity
6 Humans have exceptionally large brains
7 There are three states of matter
8 The Earth’s population is growing exponentially (and weв doomed)
9 Goldfish have a three-second memory
10 Dinosaurs went extinct after an asteroid hit Earth
11 Plastic waste contributes to climate change
12 Atoms are like miniature solar systems
13 Nothing can travel faster than light
14 Blood is red because of the iron in it
15 Humans only use 10 per cent of their brainpower
16 A coin dropped from the Empire State Building could kill you
17 Sugar makes children hyper
18 In the Middle Ages everyone thought the Earth was flat
19 Glass is a viscous liquid
20 More humans are alive now than have ever lived before
21 Ada Lovelace was the first programmer
22 Bats are blind
23 There are seven colours in a rainbow
24 Hair and fingernails keep growing when you die
25 Human blood that is low in oxygen is blue
26 Organic food is better for your health
27 You are born with all the brain cells you will ever have
28 Lemmings commit mass suicide
29 Spin-offs from the space programme include Teflon and Velcro
30 The big bang theory explains where the universe came from
31 We should return to the diet of our ancestors
32 Water goes down the plughole in different directions either side of the equator
33 There is no gravity on the International Space Station
34 Chimpanzees and gorillas are our ancestors
35 Chameleons change colour to blend into the background
36 Different parts of your tongue respond to different tastes
37 A bumblebee’s ability to fly defies physics
38 To stay healthy, we need to drink eight glasses of water a day
39 If you get a positive result from a 99 per cent accurate medical test, there’s a 99 per cent chance you have the condition
40 Toast doesn’t really fall butter-side down
41 The sun is yellow
42 The phases of the moon are caused by the Earth’s shadow
43 Antioxidants are good and free radicals are bad
44 The Amazon rainforest gives us the oxygen we need to breathe
45 Subliminal messages in cinemas were used to sell refreshments
46 Cockroaches can survive a nuclear blast
47 Fish is brain food
48 TV and films show moving pictures due to persistence of vision
49 Evolutionary changes take millions of years
50 Science works by proving theories that are true